Chapter 11
Amos
Shelly was looking at me like I’d hung the moon, and it made me feel like a fraud.
“You were incredible,” she said softly, and I could hear the awe in her voice.
It sat wrong in my chest.
Violence wasn’t my speed.
“I wasn’t,” I growled. “I was just doing what men have to do sometimes.” I started the truck and let the engine idle while I figured out my game plan. The rest of the conversation with Shelly was going to have to wait.
It was too big to cram into a few minutes.
Shelly turned toward me in the seat. “What do you mean?”
I gripped the steering wheel and looked straight ahead at the parking lot. I’d never told this to anyone outside of Hall and Zane, and even then I’d kept it short.
“My dad taught me one important lesson in life. Whoever has the biggest stick wins.”
Shelly sighed. “I guess that’s true. It’s good that you had a gun tonight. But… why did you have it?”
“I always have it. I’ve got a concealed carry license, and it goes everywhere with me. Never had to use it so far. Knock on wood.”
Shelly furrowed her brow, studying me.
And it was like she was pulling the words right out of my soul.
I couldn’t look at her while I told her, so I stared out the window, one hand clenching the steering wheel, and the other holding hers tight, trying to keep her from disappearing on me.
“My dad used to beat on us,” I said, keeping my voice even. “My mom, me, my brother, even my sis. He’d go for whoever was in reach when his mood turned… and it usually turned by the time he got halfway through his daily bottle of Jim Beam.”
She went very still beside me.
“Amos,” her voice dripped with emotion.
“My mom was always trying to put herself between us and him,” I continued, because once I started I found I needed to finish it.
“She’d take it so we wouldn’t have to, and most of the time it worked.
I hated watching that. Can you imagine being a little kid and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it? ”
“How old were you?” she asked quietly.
“Started young. I was maybe six or seven when I really understood what was happening.” I exhaled slowly. “But by the time I hit fourteen, I was finally big enough to stop him. I’d been waiting for it, honestly.”
“What happened?”
“He was beating on her again one night. Same as always. And something in me just… stopped being afraid.” I paused. “I went to the garage, and I got a baseball bat. Then I walked back in there and I used it.”
Shelly made a small sound but didn’t interrupt.
“He went to the hospital,” I rumbled, lost in the memory. “Then he went to jail. And he never came home after that. I think he knew his beating days were over. The prey had learned to fight back.”
Shelly squeezed my hand, sniffling lightly beside me.
She didn’t try to fix it or wrap it up in pretty words, and I loved her for that.
“You protected them,” she said finally.
“I did what needed doing.” I turned my hand over and squeezed her fingers once before letting go. “Same as tonight.”
I wanted to finish our conversation so badly. But Mina was inside the bar, shaken and alone, and I needed to deal with her first.
“Let me take you and Mina home,” I rumbled. “I want to call Hall and Cedar, and get some of the guys out driving around to make sure that son of a bitch has actually left town. Plus, I’ve got to let Mason know what’s happening.”
But then I leveled her with a stare so serious she had to know I meant business.
“Once that guy is taken care of, we need to have a serious conversation. There are things we need to talk about, Shelly.”
She nodded, hanging on my every word. “Yeah. I want to hear more about this cabin you mentioned. But it can wait.”
I took one quick moment to kiss her, losing myself in the love of my life, before heading into the bar to rally up the troops.
Two days later.
I stood outside Bookish, breathing for a moment before I went in.
It had been a crazy two days, chasing Mina’s ex across the state with Hall riding shotgun.
And the whole time, I’d been thinking about Shelly… and the conversation we hadn’t finished in my pickup truck.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and walked inside. What I had to say couldn’t wait until she was off work. I needed to see my girl now.
The bookshop was quiet at this hour, warm and softly lit, with only a handful of customers milling around.
From somewhere in the back, I could hear the muffled sound of women laughing, and I followed it to the doorway of the stockroom, where I poked my head in to find a dozen ladies sitting around a table, paperbacks and e-readers in hand.
Every single one of them looked up.
“Real mountain men aren’t allowed!” Kelly hollered, and the whole room erupted.
“Keep your pants on, Amos!”
“No stripping allowed!”
Peals of laughter followed those announcements.
I knew what they were talking about, even if I hadn’t participated in that particular Red Oak Mountain incident. For once in my life, I was innocent.
I grinned and held my hands up in surrender. “I come in peace. I’m just looking for my gal.”
Shelly was at my side with her hand wrapped tight around mine within seconds.
She pulled the stockroom door shut behind her and dragged me back to the sales floor.
We stood in the middle of the quiet bookshop, while she looked at me as if she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or furious.
“I’ve been worried sick about you, Amos,” she huffed.
I stopped her right there and kissed her roughly, my hands tangling in her curls. I could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The poor thing had been worried about me.
“It’s okay, Shelly Bear. I’m here with you now.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a pair of tourists wandered to the register, chattering about the stack of romance novels they’d found on the display table.
Shelly put on a professional smile and went to help them.
So I wandered the shelves while I waited, trailing my fingers along the spines of books, reading titles I didn’t recognize, and thinking about exactly what I wanted to say.
When the tourists finally left with a bag full of mountain man romances, I walked to her counter and leaned on it, looking straight into her eyes, as my pulse pounded in my throat.
I’d never been more nervous in my life.
“You got him?” she asked, a tiny frown pinching her lips.
My texts had been cryptic over the past two days. Just quick check-ins letting her know what was happening, and that I was safe.
“We took him to the Tennessee border.” I held her gaze. “He won’t be coming near Mina again. I promise you that.”
Hall and I had chased Mina’s ex all the way to the state line.
She gripped my arms, looking all over me, “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
I rumbled out a laugh, then pulled her into a hug, breathing her scent in deeply.
Damn, I’d missed this woman.
“I’m fine. Hall’s fine. Dax is not.”
Shelly furrowed her brow and searched my eyes. “Did you hurt him?”
“Naw. Not directly. He crashed his car speeding to get away from us. He’ll live, but he broke his arm. I don’t think we’ll ever be friends.”
I kissed her again. All I wanted to do was kiss her all night.
But that was no way to tell her how I felt.
Another customer interrupted, and I spent the time pacing while she showed them the tourist nook, telling them which hiking guide to buy.
When they were finally done, I beelined back to her register again.
Then I blurted out, “These damn customers need to stop getting in the way.”
“You’re the one trying to have a serious conversation in the middle of my work shift. Could you imagine if I did this to you at the logging camp?”
Naw. The guys would be all over our business.
“Do you want me to go?” I asked reluctantly.
“No. You should stay here with me and tell me what’s got you so jittery tonight. You’re bouncing all over the place, Amos.”
Was I? Oh, shit. Yeah. I guess I was.
Quietly she asked, “Is this about our thirty-day agreement? Because I want to extend it too. That was the last thing you said to me before Dax ruined our moment.”
“Yeah. But no more agreements. I’m done with time limits. I need more of you, girl.”
Her eyes went dreamy on me, her lips curving up into the most perfect smile I’d ever seen.
“I like the sound of that, Amos,” she leaned in towards me. “Are you going to tell me about this cabin you teased me with? I’ve been waiting two days to find out if you meant that.”
“Yeah, I meant it,” I rumbled, my eyes trained right on hers.
Then I managed to tell her what was in my heart.
I’d had two days to get my head on straight.
“A man can’t be good boyfriend material, let alone husband material, living in a bunkhouse with six other guys.
” I exhaled slowly. “So I talked to Zane. I’m going back to work for him.
He wants to give me a raise and put me in charge of a crew.
He’s been missing my ass ever since I left him for the Harrison camp.
And I’m going to rent a cabin from Winslow until I can afford to buy my own land. ”
Her eyebrows lifted. “A cabin! So that part was real?”
My heart grew warm and gushy, which was a strange sensation. It didn’t happen often, but Shelly brought that side out in me.
“It’s got a little garden out back that I’m probably going to kill, and it could use a woman’s touch. There’s room for bookshelves, if a certain someone wanted to help me fill them. I hear you might be partial to romances.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Amos,” she whispered. “What are you saying?”
I came around the counter and stood in front of her, taking her hands in mine.
“I meant what I said the other night,” I rumbled. “This isn’t temporary for me. I want you for the rest of my life. I’m in love with you, Shelly-Rae Anderson.”
For one second, she didn’t move. Didn’t react at all.
My heart tilted in my chest, disoriented.
Did Shelly really love me? Or was I just another Tucker in her life.
But then she made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob and sank into my arms.
A cheer broke out in the bookstore, and we looked up, startled.
It turned out we had an audience tonight.
All the women from the Mountain Man Romance Book Club had filtered into the bookstore and listened to every word.
Ivy was fanning herself dramatically, and Vanessa had a grin so wide she looked a little manic.
Mina was standing there with a knowing smile on her face, realizing she’d just lost her roommate.
But I couldn’t focus on them right now.
All of my attention was on Shelly-Rae Anderson, right here in my arms. I held on tight, my chin resting on top of her curls as my heart finally started to beat at a pace that felt right.
Shelly pulled back and looked up at me, her pretty lips trembling into a smile. Then she kissed me with everything she had, her hands gripping the front of my flannel as if she’d never let me go again.
Now it was just me and my Shelly Bear.
Together for life.